The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Known powertrain architectures include torque-generative devices, including internal combustion engines and electric machines, which transmit torque through a transmission device to an output member. One exemplary powertrain includes a two-mode, compound-split, electromechanical transmission which utilizes an input member for receiving motive torque from a prime mover power source, preferably an internal combustion engine, and an output member. The output member can be operatively connected to a driveline for a motor vehicle for transmitting tractive torque thereto. Electric machines, operative as motors or generators, generate a torque input to the transmission, independently of a torque input from the internal combustion engine. The electric machines may transform vehicle kinetic energy, transmitted through the vehicle driveline, to electrical energy that is storable in an electrical energy storage device. A control system monitors various inputs from the vehicle and the operator and provides operational control of the powertrain, including controlling transmission operating state and gear shifting, controlling the torque-generative devices, and regulating the electrical power interchange among the electrical energy storage device and the electric machines to manage outputs of the transmission, including torque and rotational speed.
Operation of the above devices within a hybrid drive vehicle require management of numerous torque bearing shafts or devices representing connections to the above mentioned engine, electrical motors, and driveline. Various control schemes and operational connections between the various aforementioned components of the hybrid drive system are known, and the control system must be able to engage and disengage the various components in order to perform the functions of the hybrid drive system. Engagement and disengagement is known to be accomplished through the use of a transmission employing clutches. Clutches are devices well known in the art for engaging and disengaging shafts including the management of rotational velocity and torque differences between the shafts. Engagement or locking, disengagement or unlocking, operation while engaged or locked operation, and operation while disengaged or unlocked operation are all clutch states that must be managed in order for the vehicle to operate properly and smoothly.
Implications to vehicle operation related to perceptible jerks or abrupt changes to vehicle acceleration are collectively described as drivability. One source of perceptible jerks affecting drivability is slip, or relative rotational movement between the connective surfaces of a clutch. Slip occurs whenever the reactive torque transmitted through the clutch exceeds the actual torque capacity created by the applied clamping force. Clutches can be designed to operate with some level of controlled slip in asynchronous operation, or clutches can be designed to operate with little or preferably no slip in synchronous operation. This disclosure deals with clutches designed primarily for synchronous operation. Slip in a transmission in synchronous operation results in unintended loss of control within the transmission and adverse affects to drivability. Another source of perceptible jerks affecting drivability results from changes in torque from torque generative devices. Input torque from the engine and input torque from the electric machine or electric machines in a hybrid powertrain can be applied individually or cooperatively to provide output torque. However, changes in total input torque required to meet torque demand, for instance, due to a change in operator pedal position or due to a transmission operating range state shift, must be handled smoothly. Particularly difficult to manage are input torques, applied simultaneously to a transmission, with different reaction times to a control input. Based upon a single control input, the various devices can change respective input torques at different times, causing increased abrupt changes to the overall torque applied through the transmission. Abrupt and uncoordinated changes to the various input torques transmitted through a transmission can cause unnecessary perceptible changes in acceleration or jerks in the vehicle, which can adversely affect vehicle drivability.
Clutches are known in a variety of designs and control methods. One known type of clutch is a mechanical clutch operating by separating or joining two connective surfaces, for instance, clutch plates, operating, when joined, to apply frictional torque to each other. One control method for operating such a mechanical clutch includes applying a hydraulic control system implementing fluidic pressures transmitted through hydraulic lines to exert or release clamping force between the two connective surfaces. Operated in this way, the clutch is not operated in a binary manner, but rather is capable of a range of engagement states, from fully disengaged and desynchronized, to synchronized with no clamping force applied, to engaged but with only minimal clamping force, to engaged with some maximum clamping force. The capacity of the clutch to transmit reactive torque is a function of the magnitude of the clamping force applied to the clutch. This variable control of clutches allows for smooth transition between locked and unlocked states and also allows for managing slip in a locked transmission.
A method to operate a powertrain comprising containing slip events by modulating input torques to the transmission would improve vehicle drivability.